Thin film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCDs) have the characteristics of small volume, low power consumption, non-radiation and the like, and have occupied a predominant position in the current flat-plate display market. A TFT-LCD mainly includes a liquid crystal display panel, a timing controller, a driver integrated circuit (IC), and so on. The liquid crystal display panel of a TFT-LCD can include an array substrate and a color filter substrate that are disposed oppositely, as well as liquid crystal molecules that are disposed between the array substrate and the color filter substrate. In the display region of the array substrate, a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines that are crisscrossed with each other, and a plurality of display units are formed; each display unit may include a TFT, through which the rotation of the liquid crystal molecules in the corresponding display unit can be controlled to achieve the display of images; and the driver IC of the TFT-LCD includes a data driver IC and a gate driver IC.
The gate driver IC transmits driving signals to the gate electrode of the TFT of each display unit through a gate line, so that each row of TFTs are controlled to be turned on and off; when the TFTs are turned on, the data driver IC transmits driving signals to the source electrodes of each column of TFTs through a data line to control the input voltage of the source electrode of the TFT of each display unit, to complete charging pixels, and then to realize display. The driving signals of the gate driver IC are transmitted to the gate lines in the display region through gate lead lines in the non-display region of the array substrate, and the driving signals of the data driver IC are transmitted to the data lines in the display region through the data lead lines in the non-display region of the array substrate. The gate lead lines and the data lead lines are collectively called as the display-region fan-out lines.
In the practical manufacturing process, the array substrate is usually prepared with a plurality of patterning processes, and each patterning process usually includes masking, exposing, developing, etching and stripping processes and so on, and is prone to damage the gate lead lines and the data lead lines that have been already prepared on the array substrate to produce a short circuit. Besides, the data lead lines of the array substrate are not protected by the color filter layer provided thereon but covered by a very thin insulating-protection layer (or passivation layer) and part of a UV sealant (a kind of sealant used for sealing an IC, which can be cured through ultraviolet (UV) light mainly), so the data lead lines are prone to suffer from scratches and corrosion to produce a disconnection. The gate lead lines and the data lead lines usually adopt single-layer metal wires, which cannot be repaired if damaged, so in this case, only the product obsolescence method can be adopted, which causes a larger waste and increases manufacturing costs.